Wednesday, December 3, 2008

Shiva is arguably of the most important deity in Hinduism. He is part of the hindu trinity and also called Shiva, Shankar, Mahesh, Shiv, natraj, natarajan and by many other names.

Shiva represents a true duality in many forms - Shiva is both a benefector (as bholenath) and destroyer (as Rudra), Shiva is ascetic but He also gives importance to Grahastha-ashram, Shiva as Nataraj relates to both death and life - so the duality hidden in various aspects of Shiva again shows the basic idea of duality in various Hindu philosophies.

Shiva is many times associated with the "destruction" aspect of nature but I must clarify that "destruction" is not a synonym for "death" in this case. Instead, destruction is more of a symbol of beginning of new things (end of things is implicitly beginning of something new and remember that every beginning also has an end and an end is not necessarily an evil thing). In symbolic terms, Shiva's Tandav form of dance is a synonym of doomsday and it is said that whenever Shiva assumes his Nataraj (or Natraj or Natarajan) form of being, it results in doomsday.

Shiva as the most powerful God in Hinduism - Shiva is perhaps the most powerful and most feared Gods in Hinduism. Again I should mention that it doesn't mean that if all Gods fight with each other then Shiva would come out as first; that is not the correct way of understanding it. Instead, Shiva represents that "aspect" of the all pervading Braham and Shiva can be seen as the sum total of all the nature's raw power in the universe.

Shiva as the ultimate Yogi - Yes, Shiva is also the most revered Yogi who controls all aspects of Yoga. I should clarify that this Yoga is not the stretching exercises that have become popular in last few decades, rather Yoga goes far beyond. Stretching exercises are a start but the goal of a real Yogi is to gain true control of all aspects of reality (body, mind, soul and beyond). Shiva masters all aspects of Yoga and thereby He masters the reality itself.Shiva as bholenath - Another interesting aspect of Shiva is his role of Bholenath! Bholenath literally means a god who is simple minded. This is exactly opposite of Shiva as the most powerful deity to be feared. But inspite of all the power and rage, all Shiva "asks for" is true devotion and if the devotee has a pure heart then even the most insignificant offerings will please Shiva. At the same time, Shiva is very easy to displease as well (as I mention in the next section) and both gods and demons alike have suffered through his anger at one point in the mythology or other! The most notable instance being when the demon Ravana, blinded by his powers, angered Shiva and Shiva but after realizing that he is in no way comparable to Shiva (remember that Ravana had conquered death herself), Ravana came up with Shiva Tandav Strota (Strotam) that is still an unmatched masterpiece in Sanskrit literature.

Shiva as Rudra (and Rudravtars) - Rudra means "angry" and as Shiva is Bholenath, Shiva also represents the primodeal rage. So, the Rudra aspect of Shiva can be seen as the exact opposite of Bholenath aspect of Shiva. Rudra can be seen as the pure fierceness, rage and destrutive nature of the universe and probably that's what makes Shiva so fearsome too. Apart from doomsday and Tandav ntratya though, some aspects of the Rudra have incarnated periodically. There have been ten rudra avatars but the most notable Rudra avatar is Hanuman. It can be observed as Shiva's Rudra incarnation and Vishnu's incarnations represent the same duality as observed in other Hindu philosophies.

Shiva as Nataraj (Lasya and Tandav) - Nataraj, as I mentioned earlier, is another dual aspect of Shiva. Nataraj literally means the God who dances but Nataraj means much more than that! Basically the type of Shiva's "dances" can be divided into two forms - Lasya and Tandav. Lasya is related to the beginning of the universe while Tandav relates to the end of the universe. Most people know of only Tandav but Lasya is just as important in understanding the true nature of Nataraj. Again, I should note that Shiva represents the duality of nature in various ways and the Nataraj aspect of Shiva is one way of understanding this Hindu philosophy.

Amalgamated Trimurti! Thats interesting as I've never seen it in Hindu temples and in hindu religious scriptures. I never knew that, thanks for pointing that out. On the side note, do Vietnamese also worship Hindu gods? Are they Hindus?

I agree with you that there "really god is one" and it is the only universal truth in the world

that said, we can call Him by any name that we want...this is one of the the most fundamental premise of Hinduism that God is one but the devotees can worship Him and understand Him in the way that helps them understand Him the most...so if someone uses names like Rama or Krishna or Hanuman to refer to God, we know that it's just how "they" understand God and Hinduism allows complete freedom in that respect...even if some muslim calls God Allah or some christian calls God Jesus Christ etc, our Hinduism still understands that they are just using different names to refer to our One God...So, all that said, he could be "none other than lord Shiv" for some of us and he could be "none other then Allah or Jesus Christ" for some more of us....as long as we know that it is the same One True God, we understand everyone...this is the reason Hinduism is really a SUPERSET of ALL other religions because it encompasses all religions....that is one BIG reason Hinduism is SUPERIOR to all other religions!!!

There are many reasons why Lord Vishnu is thought of as supreme power - 1. Vishnu incarnated as more "high profile" (so to say) Avatars than Shiva. So the reasoning is that if someone is worshipping Ram or Krishna, he/she is ultimately worshipping Vishnu. And we know that majority of the population all over India (and abroad) worships some Avatar of Vishnu (compared to Shiva). Over past many centuries these factors have led the religious devotees to incline more towards Vishnu.2. Shiva is considered a Yogi, ascetic and detatched from the world while Vishnu is considered more of someone who is more related to (or involved in or about, whatever terms you prefer) our real world. This implies that a normal person would be able to relate to Vishnu much more while a Yogi/Sage/Saint would be able to relate more to Shiva. 3. Vishnu is generally thought of as protector and savior of all life (all universe for that matter) while Shiva is (incorrectly) thought of as destroyer of worlds. This again makes people think of Vishnu as somewhat superior (again incorrectly) to Shiva. And I really can't blame anyone, given a choice between someone who looks kinder/nicer/protective and someone destructive who supposedly lives with ghosts and wears ash for clothes; any average person would prefer Vishnu.

There are many other reasons as well that relate to how Hinduism evolved from early Vedic partially polytheistic religion to strictly monotheistic one and how Vishnu (and the incarnations) affected the general populace but that won't fit in the comments (I guess I'll write a new article on that when I get time), suffice it to say that Shiva had a higher "status" than Vishnu a few thousands years back (around Upanishads) but then newer versions of Ramayana/Mahabharata etc were written and Rama/Krishna gained popularity with the general populace. Another little thing is the advent of Dwaita philosophy that kinda triggered the whole Vaishnav movement as well in a way (again too big to fit here, material for a new article).

All that being said, this is strictly what an average person (Hindu or not) who doesn't understand the truth of Hinduism might think. But we all know what Geeta said that different people worshipping God in different ways are in fact worshipping the same One Eternal God. They may think of Him Vishnu or Shiva or Rama or something else but what really matters is just how much devotion they put in their worship!

Thankyou once again Sir!So it would be indeed grate of you, if you could help us out in chanting the right Shiv Mantra.But sir, I have never heard That Lord Shiva leaves with Ghost, I am basically from South India. And it was indeed interesting, reading your answer.

Ghost means after DEATH!!! If you are a simple living person (not Saint, yogi etc.) and you are living a routin life (neither a hero nor a vilain) then you can get Shiva only after death. because bholenath accepts everyone who is able to get rid of Kama, krodha, lobha & Moha (Sex, anger, greed, will). This is possible only after death.

As for the right Shiv Mantra, it is Shiva Tandav Strotam. No other mantra/strota ever written in sanskrit language compares to Tandav Strotam and some philosophers consider it the masterpiece in all known languages too. If you don't happen to know the story - Ravan created Tandav Strotam to please Shiv when the Lord was going to kill him and Lord Shiv was so pleased by it that in addition to sparing Ravan, He also gave him His sword as a blessing! Panchabrahmans also are one good way.

That being said, according to Geeta and Shiv Puran and Vishnu Puran, its the devotion that matters so God will be pleased even if we don't chant any mantra but are devoted and He will not be pleased if we don't have true devotion no matter how much we chant even the Tandav Strotam!

About Shiv living with ghosts, well Shiv is also known as "Bhoothnath" because his "Ganas" (followers) consist of all sorts of magical creatures like ghosts etc. Ganesha is called Ganapati because He is the leader of his father's "Ganas". When I get some time, I'll write it in detail.

To Anonymous above: It's called "Ardhanareeshawr". It is particularly significant concept in Hindu religion and represents complex concepts like dualism, complementary nature of purusha/prakriti, contrast between lasya/tandav and more among other things.

Just one question.Agreed that every god is one (in terms of science we can say that it is energy), then why did earlier scholars of various religion defined 3 Gods? why are major gods in all religion termed as fish? why do all religion have the story of diluvial?

So apart from philosophical meaning; can u provide a scientific explanation of this?

1) Why did early scholars defined 3 gods - They didn't. The earliest religions were pretty much about nature worship and they had a "God" for each heavenly body or natural event. For example, having "Sun God", "Wind God", "Rain God" etc. The earliest hinduism had 11 "Gods"!

2) Why 3 gods anyway? - After nature worship they evolved into having 3 representations of God. Why 3? Because it represents 3 universal phases of lifecycle. There are exactly (and only) 3 ways of representing anything - Birth, Sustainance, Death. So if we assume that God is Energy, now Energy can give life (sunlight), Energy can help you sustain/survive (fire to cook your food) and Energy can destroy you (atom bomb). This is how every entity can be represented so 3 "Gods" (to be accurate, some think it's only 2 because they combine birth with sustainance).

3) Why are major gods in all religion termed as fish - Give me some examples please!

4) Why do all religions have similar stories - Because the root of all major religions is the same! It's hard to think of it this way because historians/archeologists can't fully agree either way. But even today we know that Bible comes from Torah and Quran comes from Bible and that is why those 3 books are similar, but no Christians and Muslim will accept it, they will always claim that their book is straight from God (whatever that means). If we look closely, Hinduism and Jewism are very similar (some experts say that the name Abraham comes from hindu word Braham) and many historians have claimed that Hinduism was the origin of Jewism and therefore all other major religions today! Same root, similar stories!

Shiv Linga is actually more complicated than what it looks and there are different interpretations in different time periods as Hinduism evolved. What is interesting is that all old religions had something similar. I guess it'll require a full article that I plan to write later on when I get some time!

Example of fish.1. Hinduism - Vishnu's 1st incarnation (Avatar)2. Christianity - Ikhthus (Son of God, Saviour. refer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ichthys)3. Take any religion and u'll find some major god described as fish...

Story of DiluvialMy comments on ur views1. it may be possible that root of all religion may be same. But, (u may b aware of this already) that, all religion have different birth place and according to the terrain of the region their gods have taken shape. Their can b a very long discussion on this topic, so i'll leave it here.So my question still remains as to why the same story? cause i can show u many discripencies in those stories, but still all religious scholars choose to keep the same version... I wonder why??? :)Discripencies in the Diluvial story:1. it would have been impossible to collect all life foam cause different species live in different regions (Polar bear for eg is only fond in extreme cold regions and many such animals...)2. Even if Noha or Manu did succeed in doing this imagine how much food needs to be stored for each and everyone of them... I just cant imagine the size of the ship...3. Anyways, even if they did succeed in making that huge ship, collecting just one pair of each species will lead to inbreeding in the very next generation... catastrophic according to me, i'm sure those scholars were wise enough to note this, and the gene data of every animals (at this point in time) suggest that it comes from different sources, hence proving the story wrong...4. Why do all versions of the story say that it rained for only 40 days and 40 night??? it could have been 100 days and 100 night or 50 days and 50 night or even 1000 days and 1000 nights????

So the question still remains that why that one story??? :)

Dear Manoj, I already know the answer to my questions... Please accept my apologies if I've worried you. My only point is to make all the readers of ur blog (and You, if u have not studies hinduism in this regard) understand that there is a very subtle but vast science hidden behind these stories. So yes, their may be different religions but science remains the same. Hinduism in particular is very much misunderstood in this regards Idol worshipping, supersticious, Naked saints etc etc etc. But if u try and find the science behind the religious teaching then (according to me) I've found no other religion to have so many books and explanations relating to the ultimate goal of a human being...

Thanks for the comments! Very impressive knowhow and progressive thinking, I don't get to meet people like you often!

Anyway, below are my comments -

1) All religions have different birth place & their gods depend on the specific places - Yes, for pagan religions that is true. But for bigger monotheistic religions that followed, it's not true. Jewism can be considered one of the oldest monotheistic religion and is the root of Christianity & Islam. Therefore these 3 religions have similar stories but they think they are unique!

Now if you think about it, the Deluge story itself is a perfect proof of why the major religions have the same origin! Let's say the oldest and biggest civilizations like Babylonian/Sumerian ones somehow come up with this story of planetory flooding and is integrated into the core of their mythology. Next, some Babylonian/Sumerian scholar/priest creates a monotheistic religion called Jewism taking important elements from Babylonian mythology and now Jewism also has deluge story! Next comes Jesus Christ's followers and start their own religion called Christianity based on Jewism and re-use the mythology, and bang we have deluge story in Christianity too! 700 years later comes Mohammed and starts Islam based on Christianity+Jewism and since the basic story is the same we again have deluge in Islamic mythology! Now Hinduism is a little problem because it's not an Abrahamic religion but still has the deluge story in it. But more recent findings are pointing to the direction that Hinduism might actually be the root of Jewism, check this little article here - http://personalpages.tds.net/~theseeker/Abraham.htm . So with this in place and old polytheistic pagan religions mostly gone, we can sort of see how the major religions have similar mythologies even if they look completely disconnected. Moreover, religions "transform" over time as can be seen in Hinduism and cultural interaction can influence it (the big ancient civilizations always had cultural exchange through trade etc).

So that is one scenario in which all of todays major religions will have the same story!

But there are 2 problems here - 1) Even more disconnected places like Australia and China etc have the deluge story, and 2) No fake story can have such significant impact to be remembered for thousands of years! So, it has to be something real and something really catastrophic so that it was known all over the world and became a core mythology. But it's difficult to say exactly what, but experts have been hypothesizing that it could be a meteor impact or some volcanic eruption etc. I think Burckle crater has a solid chance because it's close to indian ocean and therefore affects both eastern and western civilizations - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Burckle_Crater. There are other such documented catastrophs too that could have caused this story. Besides, in ancient times it was easier to disrupt civilizations because of lack of scientific advancements - even a major flood could destroy all the crops, stored food, homes and leave hundreds of thousands of people stranded starving to death. So something like a meteor crash or a major tactonic volcanic eruption would simply be immensely catastrophic to almost all the world.

2) Is it even true? How did they carry all animals and what not! - I think the catastroph part is true but the actual ark building etc is not true. It's possible that the people involved went up some mountains (like Australian deluge story suggests) to survive or they probably actually had to build boats etc but they definitely did not collect every single species and stayed on a boat for 5 months to survive. They might have brought their cattle or pets (cows, dogs, cats, sheep whatever) with them and that makes much more sense. The thing is, such things eventually become legends and over time they get more and more colorful and mythical and this deluge event is atleast 10000 years old if not older and that is a long enough time for the actual event to cook into this huge mythical tale!

Dear Manoj,Since centuries these stories are kept symbolic so i'm sure you will understand the importance of keeping it like that.Remember "Truth is for those who seek it". So a blog is not a place where such things should be decoded. It should be done in the most powerfull tool that God has given you... Brain :)All i can say is that this story points to the begining of life. Rest is for you to find...

You seem to have studied the history of religions very closely, but i'm sorry to say that u've missed the science of that. Every religion has the same motive "To take a human being to the stature of God".Now there r 2 ways to attain that:1. Through Yoga - Master all the 5 elements of nature, and ultimately win over all sorrows of life.2. Through some materialistic means - This is what all the religions r pointing to through the deluge story. Cause it can be achieved easily when compared to Yoga, but even after achieving that Yoga remains the only mean to move up. But since Yoga is a very long process the second thing helps you to achieve the goal in one life span. Hence it remains very imp too...Now, I've only seen ample of literature relating to both these methods in Hinduism only, else every religion has forgotten the Yoga part and sadly the 2nd method also... But that is past; in present, even Hindu's r behaving like hooligans and living in past...

I saw many enthusiastic ppl here, try to find an answer in the ancient symbolic pictures and stories, but was saddened cause everyone took pride in philosophical explanations and started thinking how great Hinduism is! No one tried to challange your thoughts and see on the other side... Believe me, i dont have anything against you,, i dont even know u...

The only thing i'm against is; is the mentality of the ppl. There is so much of attitude and ego everywhere, everyone thinks and wants to believe that they r better then others, but r not taking any step to be move ahead and grow!!! Some one said that "I would rather be a dissatisfied Socrates then a satisfied Pig", but its sad to see that everyone is behaving like a pig...Anyways, No religion is good or bad when u understand the true meaning of it... and since all religions r saying the same thing i dont see any point in trying to prove if a religion is good or bad! So yes, hinduism may have a great past, but present is terrible and future depends on present, so you can see where we are leading...

Since so many ppl r following you i'd urge you to study the science of religion and guide ppl accordingly...

" blog is not a place where such things should be decoded. It should be done in the most powerfull tool that God has given you... Brain :)" ??

What are you talking about? Why not write the knowledge in a blog? Won't it be "decoded" inside Brain before it gets written in the blog?

So you're basically implying that the "deluge story" explains evolution or something? Like life originated in the sea? Sure, why not! The only thing is that the point of all deluge stories is that life already existed on land and water actually "destroyed" it while evolution implies that there was no life on land and water actually created it! In other words, in evolution, life couldn't exist without water but in deluge life already existed without water! But yeah, it's really how we analyze it and both views are possible based on what we prefer.

So I don't particularly agree that deluge story positively correlates with evolution (if that's what you meant). But there is something else in Hindu religion that very uniqely and accurately correlates and even explains evolution - Dasavatars of Vishnu! It starts with Matsya and goes through complete cycle of evolution and civilization development (I'm writing an article on it right now but it'll take a bit before I post it). So science is definitely there.

I think you might not really understand what "Yoga" really means and what Lord Krishna meant when he described two ways to nirvana! "Yoga" is not just exercises or meditation, it's much more. Also there are no two truly separate ways of attaining nirvana as Lord Krishna points out in chapter 5 - "The ignorant — not the wise — consider the path of Self-knowledge and the path of selfless service (Karma-yoga) as different from each other.". But still if we must divide them into more than one then we can see them as 3 - Karma Yoga, Jnana Yoga and Bhakti Yoga. So, when you look closely, Yoga is the only real way to attain God and if we must differentiate then we have 3 ways! (all are the same one though in the end).

About your other comments, I'm disappointed in you a bit because you are basically flaunting yourself by basically saying - "look look I know so much more and you should read more about religion". You should really come right out and instead of saying things like "don't write in blog, do in brain" and "rest is for you to find" etc you should really just explain yourself clearly so that everyone can learn from what you might know.

It's easy to accuse everyone of "agreeing with me" or "not challenging" or "seeing philosophical meaning of it" but I should mention that you've not really challenged this post on Lord Shiva at all here, you've just started another story on deluge! So, if you yourself haven't really provided any constructive criticism on the topic, how can you blame everyone else for not doing it! :)

Then you passively insulted pretty much all the hindus by saying that everyone has attitude and ego and no one wants to improve. But honestly, you are not thinking clearly there. Some people don't want to improve, some people have ego and attitude; but some others want to improve and control the ego/attitude! It's easy to see bad everywhere but it's much more wiser (and sometimes harder) to have a balanced view of the world! So, I'd humbly request you to have a more balanced and pleasant view of the world. I'm sorry if I offended you, it's just my constructive criticism on your personality. I learn something from you, you learn something from me and we both grow and get better in the process, that's what this is all about!

A Gun in the Hands of a child will only cause destruction. Hence to decode the story of Deluge on a blog is not appropriate. Anyways you can study it with sometime in hand and keeping my pointers in mind.Discussion on Yoga will b a huge topic in itself, but my understanding does not stop at the breathing techniques, yes yoga is much too deep than that. And what I said earlier is nothing to do with what Krishna has said. I only meant that Path of Yoga (including all different kinds that you have described) is a very long process and the story of Deluge gives u knowledge through which u can achieve the final goal of Yoga in one life.Also, I purposely didn't comment on any of ur writing as it may offend you. I'll comment on the last part of ur writing on Ardha-Nareshwar (half male and half female, I'll speak in terms of science; but wagain my goal is not to sho how much i know. I just want ppl to look at the science behind the religion.)1. Half Male and Half Female Female Part:Humans cells belong to Eukaryote cell group. These cells follow the process of Mitosis for regeneration / birth. In this process every DAUGHTER nuclei takes one Chromosome from each parent and follow the binary method of cell division. Here only daughter nuclei's gets divided.(Ref: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eukaryote) So if u see every cell of a male or female body is female. [Meera Bai was referring to this same science when she said that "I didn't know if there was any male in this God saved world, are we all not females in front of him. Now if u check the different process of reproduction Sexual, Cloning or Asexual in all these type only the female cells get divided. Hence in Hindusim Nature is referred to as Prakriti (a female sex). I hope i've explained the female part of the body.Male Part:Human Body can be divided in to 3 parts.1. Body (Physical)2. Brain (Partly physical and Partly Subtle)3. Soul (The most subtle thing in this universe)Here Body and Physical Brain are made of cells which r females as i mentioned above. Now as our religion says Soul is nothing but the mirror image of God and without that the above two are of no use. Hence he is the one who is Acting hence is Male (Purusha as termed in Sanskrit: check the meaning of Purusha as per Sanskrit language). This is also mentioned in Geeta. I hope the concept of Male is also clear here.So u see our body is half male and half female and both cant exist on earth in isolation. Hence both are important.

Now the dance forms: (Lasya and Tandav)Again if u see evolution Shiva (a human form) must have came long after live started on earth. So first can unicellular organism and then evolution took over. So how can Shiva (Who came in so late) can start and destroy everything; cause things existed before him and will exist after him also, cause Shiva is not the final entity, The ultimate God has no shape so definitely there should be someone above him. So the question rises that what are these dances in our religion referring to?The entire universe is filled with Vibrations. In scientific terms they are called Extremely Low Frequency waves. Now this is being proved that the light that was emitted from the infinite mass (the one that existed before the big bang) is present in the entire universe but at a lower frequency then that of light (Ref Book: A Brief history of Time by Stephen Hawking) The frequency of these waves r at 8 Hertz. Now refer Mundak Upanishads or the Rig Veda and find out the frequency of the Sound of OM, which is referred as the Sound of Creation (The Cosmic dance of creation or Lasya; Or ELF as science calls them). Also, the frequency of 8 hertz have the ability to heal.Now there are other frequencies like 6.6 herts (this is the rate at which earth oscillate) has the capacity to cause depression and many other which bring different results (The cosmic dance of destruction). Understanding this science our ancient rishi's brought the concept of wearing different kind of stones.Let me know your comments on the same. You can search of all these things in Wikipedia and books that i've referred.Regarding flaunting I've explained y i cant speak abt it in public. And my intention of writing this. I don't think i need to explain anything else.And I didn't want to passively insult them; I wanted to be more direct. Also the ones who have taken a stand and trying to improve themselves do not have to take that criticism at all cause it does not relate to them. I dont mean that everyone should learn religion and all; all i want to say is that be a better human beings. If u see the state of affairs in India religion/cast/creed etc etc etc has become a big mess. There is a need to explain those mongers, who think that GOD is their private property and rest all are not useless.I agree that my stand is more harsh, but that is only for those who behave like fools and sadly 98 - 99% of the ppl behave in this manner. I love my country and I know that unless there is a major shift in the understanding of the ppl we cant be a society which advocates Peace, Love and Harmony. Look at the American and European society they are behaving in the manner in which our ancestors have asked us to behave. So how come they r behaving this way? when u ask this question I'm sure u'll come to a conclusion that its because they trust science more then religion. I hope u and other readers will understand my stand on the hypocrisy and hooliganism of Indian society.If we need to grow we have to change our selves and for that we need to teach ppl (especially the new generation) the right things. Since Hinduism is filled with Science why not start from there? Why not challenge the old beliefs? Why cant we start on ur own? Why do we need someone to lead us? when god has given equal capabilities to everyone.So again, I'm not here to prove how smart or intelligent i'm. I'm only speaking so that i can give a new dimension to existing beliefs.

Well, I believe that discussing our viewpoints to clarify our understanding and learning new things is appropriate regardless of whether it's done on internet or in a temple! And IMHO a blog that is visible to the whole world makes it even more fruitful because much more people can participate! But if you feel a blog is not appropriate place, then I agree to disagree.

About Yoga, I think I didn't make myself clear - You basically pointed out chapter 5 in Geeta where Arjun asks Krishna which of the two paths (selfless service vs Yoga) is better. And Krishna confirms that they are eventually the same and only ignorants think that they are different. What I'm getting at is, selfless service can really be seen as another aspect of Karma Yoga, so the path is not so long as long as we understand what Yoga really means. The story of deluge might be a part of history, might be legend of some catastrophe, might be just a fake story to inspire people to do Karma Yoga / selfless service, it's all really left to interpretation. As for me, I always believe that it's a combination of many things and what we get out of it depends on how we look at it. This is the case with other aspects of Hinduism as well.

About Ardha-Narishwar Shiva - I am not quite as good at biology as I'm at physics so I might not be able to fully confirm and understand the information. That being said, I think you are confusing the term "Daughter Nuclues" because any nuclie that has decayed is refered to as a "Daughter Nuclues" in nuclear physics! Its not a case of a "Daughter Nucleus" winning over a "Son Nucleus" because there is no "Son Nucleus"! It's just a naming convention in english that calls the decayed nucleus "Daughter". They could've as easily called it "Son" instead of "Daughter". Thats how it works in physics and probably works the same way in biology so your argument doesn't stand (but I'm not an expert in biology so I'll leave it at that)! But about Purusha and Prakriti, yes that is exactly what I mentioned in my post that Ardha-Narishwar Shiva signifies! You don't even have to take the trouble to prove how human body is male and female, as the whole universe is basically a manifestation of Purusha and Prakriti and Ardha-Narishwar maheshwar is an ample metaphore to understand the concept.

About how can Shiva can create/destroy - It's a common knowledge that Shiva is an aspect of the all pervading supreme entity. Now people confuse this and believe that it means Shiva IS the all pervading supreme entity in an absolute sense. This is not so (as you yourself mentioned). Hindu religious texts actually tell us that even the trinity has a lifecycle! Brahma, Vishnu, Mahesh, they all come into existence as manifestations of the one supreme entity and go away after their life spans cyclically but their life spans are much much larger than human time cycles. Anyway this is off topic but I wrote it down anyway.

Finally Lasya/Tandav as ELF - First ELF range is 3-30 Hz (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Extremely_low_frequency) so there is no fundamental difference between 8Hz and 6.6Hz. Secondly, I couldn't find any scientific journals that conclusively prove that 8Hz heal people and 6.6Hz cause depression! Finally, all of universe is filled with more than ELF, universe is filled with an infinite number of waves ranging from low to high frequencies! And, I don't know what you mean by the rate of oscillation of Earth! Do you mean rotation? revolution? Something else? So, all in all you seem to be refering to pseudoscience that has absolutely no proof whatsoever! Now don't get me wrong, I do believe that brain waves are affected by outside variables and ELF can certainly amplify alpha waves in some people but the thing is there is no distinction between 8Hz and 6.6Hz (both are ELF) and there is no such term as an earth's oscillation (unless you're using the wrong term)! So your statements just look erronous , there is plenty of pseudoscience around and some of it is true, some is not true and IMHO the right way is to present logical arguments and leave it for everyone to make conclusions.

Now, I'm not trying to prove you wrong here and would happily accept if there is any truth at all, it's all just logical criticism based on since you wanted to discuss science here. If I find errors in your conclusions then you learn something new, if you correct me then I learn something new so we both (and everyone else reading it) learn something new! And that way, I should thank you for this discussion as it is indeed helping gain a new perspective on the concepts regardless of the conclusion!

forget about all relegion hinduism is the root or lord shiva is the only one god.also somebody posted energy is god etc..forget about everything.just take human life..you keep saying lord shiva so when you die will you meet shiva and someone who says krishna will they meet krishna or christians meet christ..(i purposefully leave muslim meets allah)...just think about this ..dont say we will meet god in the form of light/energy etcc..for which we dont have any knowledge..

just think...GOD is above all our attributes and beyind our imagination..yoga, temple , theertha all are part of the science developed by human again guided by GOD..

GOD is one and who has taken care of us when we are in the womb?who is taking care of all other living cretaures,,how does nonliving creatures obey GOD like sun and moon go circle in their orbit UNTIL the time set by GOD..

FINALLY, i want to say GOD is one and do not identify god by what you know like yoga,ebergy etc..

I must say that you've hit the nail right in the head! What you said is what Hinduism is all about and that is what makes Hinduism the most mature religion!!! In Hinduism, we believe that God is one (same as Abrahamic religions - Judaism, Christianity and Islam) but we also realize that as humans we can't really "understand" the God. This is scientifically and mathematically proven too by Godel's theorem that we can't fully understand something until we completely separate ourselves from it. Now a rare few can understand the true nature of God but not the everyday commoner like most of the world. So we do want to attain the God, but the question is - how does a commoner attain something that he/she can't fully understand? Bhagwat Geeta provided the answer - Geeta states that those who worship "deities" or "lower gods" etc are ALL ultimately worshipping the one true God! What this means is that no matter what you call God or how you visualize Him in your mind or what place you worship Him in or what methods of worshipping do you use, ultimately you are worshipping to the One God and as long as your heart is true, God will hear your prayers!! Isn't it so wonderful?

(continued)Also, I think I should redefine what a "lower god" is - All the nature gods like Zeus or water god or fire god etc are considered "beings" in Hinduism. They are thought of as beings who might have some powers and might be able to grant your wishes etc if they are pleased with you. They might punish you too, if they are displeased with you. But Krishna (another name for the one God), used an allegory to show everyone that as long as the devotee is worshipping the one true God, he doesn't have to worry about any of the "lower gods". Now "gods" like Zeus, Allah and Jesus Christ etc are really the "lower gods" that greeks, Muslims and Christians worship to, respectively. Bhagwat Geeta also says that people who think that the "lower gods" (Zeus, Apollo, Allah, Jesus Christ etc) are really the one true God, are mistaken and these devotees won't get the attainment that the ones that really understand that there is no true or false Gods but there is just one true God! So regardless of shape or form, you've to believe that no matter what you call Him or how you see Him, He is just one God. This is what separates Hinduism from all else in that it is beyond the "my God is better than your God" or "my God is more true than your God" or "my book is better than your book" etc. Hinduism just focuses on the most important thing - there is One True God and no matter how you see him, you'll attain nirvana if you have faith!

Few questions to my friend who tried to says that "we should not try to define God..."

1. If god decides everything, then why did it take millions of years for a simple unicellular life to evolve as human beings?2. Why is there so much of evil in the world around us? and why does God has to say that i'll come whenever evil dominates the good?3. Why do we have cycles in the development of human brains? where it develops in once cycle and degrades after that in the exact cycle? I'm speaking about the 4 stages Kali Yuga, Dwapar Yuga, Treta Yuga and Sat yuga (similar to those of Greek Broze, Copper, Silver and Gold age).Also we know that Ramayana and Mahabharata had happened in the Treta and Dwapar Yuga respectively, hence we see the description of airplanes and its mathematics in Ramayana but not during the Mahabharata's time...So, if god can control everything why is he following these cycles???

Again Water, Fire, Air, Earth and Space are key ingredients for life to begin. Every religious scholars have understood it and worships it in some form or another, but looking at them separately does not make any sense.

Also when u say God, is alive or dead?

So life is the most subtle and most important thing, but what it is and where it comes from, is something that you need to find on your own...

Hence according to me u cant say that God started life cause he him-self is living and there should be something above him...

@Anonymous:Are you replying to my post? Then I don't follow you, but seems you think of Hinduism in terms of Christianity and Islam etc so I can try to answer your questions -

1. In Bible/Quran etc, human beings are pretty much the only beings (with souls and all) in the eyes of the God/Allah, so if you are a Christian/Muslim, you can ask why God took millions of years to create us, and its a valid question. But it doesn't apply to Hinduism. From my understanding of Hinduism, Good creates the universe, lays down the laws and everything follows those laws till the end.

2. Evil is subjective, what might be bad for one might be good for someone else. God (in Hinduism) didn't say that He incarnates in the times of evil, instead He said He incarnates when Dharma is lost. Evil and the loss of Dharma are two different things.

3. Why are there Yugas? Yugas are simply an abstraction of how things change with time. Everything is constantly changing from one state to another as time is progressing, Yugas refer to those states.

Dear Manoj,My only issue is that why do we think that god is above the law of physics?Cause according to me God's are nothing but the higher state of human beings (HB). HB who were able to control the 5 elements of Nature.HB who can control the 5 different types of Electricity, each controlling one of the senses in our body. (This is yet to be proven by modern science)HB who's will power is so strong that it can manifest things at his/her will.

Also when i say "is God living or dead?" I'm trying to emphasize that life is more important; hence even God should have had a beginning. Hope I'm making sense to you.I'm speaking about Ishwara. Who is above God in our religion (and this is what the Christians and Muslims are speaking about). And who's definition is similar to that of Energy...

Also Yugas are a result of Gravitational field. Our Sun is revolving around a bigger sun, just like earth revolves around sun. In this process at one point in time it reaches closer to the center of our Galaxy (known as Vishnu Nabhi in our literature). This is the point when Sat yuga is at its peak, post this the descending arc of yugas will start where human beings start loosing their knowledge. Hence as i mentioned earlier you can see the reference of airplanes in Ramayana (which happened in Treta yuga) but not in Mahabharata (which happened in Dwapar yuga).

I have experienced this from my childhood; whenever someone does not have an answer to a question they say its God, and it for him to decide.And my issue is that people are limiting their capabilities in this manner.India is going through a change; a phase when ppl (especially the younger generation) are asking a lot of questions and I don't want them to think of Gods as someone who can be reached only through prayers.But as one who was just like us, before he understood the science of this universe and tried to become a part of it (consciously)...One question to you Manoj; Do you practice Yoga? and if yes, have you ever entered the state of Samadhi?

@AnonymousSure, everyone thinks that his beliefs are the best and so people try to sell them to others. But they forget that they don't understand "WHY" their beliefs are right and not all beliefs are right, a lot of beliefs are wrong! So, in this blog, I've tried to show "WHY" and to help everyone truly understand it! Every once in a while I compare Hinduism with Islam and Christianity etc too to show how it differs and why it stands out as the right one in face of contradictions!

what rubbish!!! who said hunduism is a fake religion! and christianity is the true religion???? r u drunk or lost your mind??? which country you live in??? you have no rights to say such things on Hinduism in public...anyway a hipocrit like you can only utter such non-sence on net...Hinduism is the oldest and the best of all and was known as vaidik religion in the past...

Hinduism is very much based on science...not the physical but on the metaphysical...you should prefer "PATAJALI YOG" for more details...and to understand the heavy dose...also read "Doreen Virtue"all the superstitions in our religion has periodic and scientific reasons (though some of them are not applicable for current lifestyle); were ment for safety and betterment of mankind cause unless our scholars and saints make it compulsory, dumb people like you dont follow them...

god is a source of energy and we all are a fragment of that energy...we means "our soul" which takes birth (phisical life) to EXPERIENCE the knowledge it already has...

in Hinduism we have a saperate god dedicated to diffent forms of the same energy...so whoever gets attacted any perticular form of energy, they worship that perticular god...this shows how much variety and independece is offered in our religion

Also hindu people never comment on anyones religion and hurt their sentiments...but i dont understand why others do!!! may be because the 'Best one never shouts that its best but others do cause they have complex'... you guys have religion conversions...every child which borns is hindu...if you chant any stotra in front of the baby it responds to it...muslinm do the 'sunnat' and make the baby muslim...and we Hindus never lik our spits...once a hindu is converted in any other religion he can never come back to us...there is no procedure offered...no matter how much ever he/she regrets

i dint say that sentence...i was asking him if he has lost his mind to say such thing!!! and i ment to say that there is a single supernatural energy which has different forms and faces (we call them as different gods)...people choose their own according to their lessons and preferences of life

anyway...i was searching for pics of hindu deities for some presentation and discovered your article...i do prefer shiva, so started reading it and it was nice...in d biginig, commets were also good...but later this Anonymous got me angry for making such statement!! (i guess he/she is not the one who discussed bout science-yoga and samadhi etc...)

hinduism is much much beyond than just a religion...its a way of living...it has all precaution, solution and protection from every single problem...even from the natural calamities!! thats why all the spiritual scientists in the current world (be they from any religion) refer and suggest hindu (vaidik) concepts to live a better life and proceed towards being god-like.

every child needs a teacher to learn any lesson...the child itself cant learn it...god acts like a teacher for us...by worshiping him, we are asking him to help us to learn our lessons

i must say that our present is not at all terrible...many yougsters are meditating and trying to get the knowledge directly form the super natural entity to wipe off the old (unnecessary) belifs...

i personally feel, its a good thing to write such bolg to make people aware of what we (our religion) especially hindu children staying abroad...they'll get more knowledge and feel morerepectful towards our culture...again we are not askingpeople to compulsary follow what we want to say...if they like, they will...rest is their personal choise

i am not a science student...so the whole scientific discussion was pretty intresting for me though was a lil difficult to understand...anyway i support you manoj...keep writing new bolgs and make people aware of the good things in our culture

Tell me one great person who was not criticized in his life...Same is the case of Hinduism...

So when ppl criticize show them proof and if they still don't understand, ignore them.Cause getting angry is of no use...

Also, god did not gift everyone with a brain that can understand him... So be nice to them...

And when u speak of Patanjali; were u able to understand the method or technique of doing Kriya Yoga?I've found the reference of this technique in many books Autobiography of a Yogi, Bhagwat Geeta, Vishnu Puran etc... but am not able to understand it...

You seem to have deleted your abusive comments but I did get them in my email so I was able to read them and am replying to them.

You sounded very angry and I can understand that you might have your personal reasons and used my blog to vent. It could be because you're having trouble with family or job or perhaps you're not feeling well. Whatever it is, I understand and I'll pray to the God tonight to help you with what is bothering you.

You asked how I know about Hinduism - I was raised in a religious family and my parents encouraged me to read and understand Bhagwat Geeta. As a boy, I did an in-depth study of Geeta many times over with another religion oriented friend. Then I studied Upanishads and spent a significant time trying to understand them. Later on I did a partial study of Vedas, Puranas and Brahman Granthas. When I got out of college, I studied many books from new authors that presented their own interpretations of Hindu philosophies. So my knowledge is sum total of both old and new with a focus on Geeta and Upanishads and understanding of Vedas and Puranas.

You also asked me if I smoke Ganja - No, I don't smoke ganja or any other drugs in any form. I do not drink alcohol either. I assume that you were concerned about my blog on Marijuana - http://make-marijuana-legal.blogspot.com/ - Let me assure you, that this is meant to educate people on Marijuana as a medicine. Probably you did not know that Marijuana (or Bhang or Ganja) is used today for Cancer and AIDS patients and is a medicine. My focus there is to promote the education so that ignorant people like you (no offense) can appreciate the medicinal values of this plant.

You also asked if I had any swami or gurus - First of all, let me assure you that NO ONE can teach you if you are not a good student....and conversly, if you are a good student then the word of Lord Krishna himself (Bhagwat Geeta) is enough for understanding the truth. BUT when I was a boy, I did study under Swami Haridas, Guru Krishnamurty and others that helped me understand the basic concepts before I started reading myself.

You pointed out a spelling mistake as well, and I really appreciate it and I will correct it as soon as I possible. If you happen to find any other corrections, I'll be highly obliged and make the corrections. You don't have to delete your comment, if you felt ashamed then it's a good sign that you can recognize your own mistakes and make amends. Again, I hope you feel better, I welcome your future comments and I'll pray for you before the Lord to help you solve your problems.

i deleted my own comment? let me guess.. u prayed to lord krishna (who is obviously on ur side against the evil me)& he made me delete the comment, rite? u gotta understand that social media wont accept this fraud much longer.. sooner or later people will figure out that u delete comments when u cant answer questions.. by the way, what is the spelling of BHAHAM, guruji?

You still sound very angry. I answered each of your questions in detail, so I don't know what you mean. Still if I missed anything, I'll be happy to clarify. Also, I again thank you for pointing out my spelling mistake. I welcome any healthy criticism, even if such things as spelling or grammatical errors, so that I can present more accurate and readable information to my esteemed readers.

You sound very angry or stressed out. I would recommend Pranayam if you are familiar with it. If not, then try deep breathing exercises, as follows -

Step 1: Slowly and gradually take a deep breath through your nose. This is called Kumbhak.Step 2: Count to 10 or say the name of God 10 times in your mind.Step 3: Slowly and gradually release the breath through mouth. This is called Rechak. You can try to say AUM too when you exhale, if you are able to.Repeat this 5-10 times whenever you feel angry or stressed. With this simple yogic technique you'll see how quickly and easily your anger dissipates and you become stress free.

son, u are absolutely right. i AM stressed out. i work very hard for my money & then i come home to find that the internet has given a voice to esteemed prototypes such as yourself.so i like to punch holes in such god-awful theories as part of a stress management program. (hey, atleast i've got the guts to admit it)

but i'm a little confused as to your occupation. your writing suggests that u are trying to pass yourself of as a theologian. but then u advised me that i'm stressed out/angry. that would make you a psychiatrist. then you gave me advise on pranayam and your area of expertise shifted to yogic therapy. what else are u?a astro-physicist? a genetic engineer? a circus clown, perhaps?

thanks for sharing the pool of your secret knowledge on pranayamm with me. where did you copy/paste it from?

What makes Hinduism so special is that if you truly understand what Hinduism stands for then you'll easily realize that it constitutes philosophy, psychology, medicine, science & mathematics, mystic sciences, Yoga (for physical & mental well being) and so much more. Hinduism is the "way of living" for this world and beyond. You just need to have faith and try to understand the truth.

I don't claim to know everything there is to know (no one but the Omniscient God can know everything) but I do try to spread the knowledge that I do have gained. But then all anyone (even the greatest Guru Param Parmeshwar) might do is to show you the way, you yourself have to make an honest effort from your side too and have faith.

You've freedom of choice, you can choose to be arrogant and ignore all the knowledge that Hinduism offers or you can choose to embrace it and improve yourself further.

If you're stressed out, then the 3 steps from basic pranayam (Kumbak & Rechak) that I explained to you in my last comment will definitely help you, just give them a try for 5 minutes a day if not more and have faith.

I just ask you to have an open mind and see what I (or your gurus or books that you believe in) am saying and just try to understand. Hinduism has a lot to offer and if you just keep an open mind, you'll see how meaningful and incredible it can make your life! Once you have faith, all your stress and tension and anger will disappear and you'll feel truly be at peace with yourself and with others. You'll be truly happy! Just have faith and try! :)

oye mr. faith,hinduism isnt ur property. nobody is saying anything against hinduism.learn to read, dont just get high & start typing bull. i asked u a simple question: where did u copy/paste the pranayam procedure from & u didnt have the juice to cite your sources.

I've tried to empathize with you but you're getting more and more abusive. I don't know why you are so insulting towards well intentioned and good advice but I can just try to help with your anger and the Pranayam steps that I mentioned will help, just try them.

You asked where I copied it from - This Kumbhak/Rechak technique is so basic to Yoga and Hinduism in general that everyone who grows up in a Hindu religious family, knows this! So there is no need to copy something so simple from anywhere! I've practiced Pranayam for many years so I actually have an advance knowledge in it. I don't even need to write any of it, but I'm just trying to help you. :)

The fact that you are hiding your real name and then posting such insulting and senseless comments on a website that is dedicated to your own religion, shows that you're cowardly in nature. But I pray to the Almighty that whatever is causing your abusive behavior resolves itself and you see the truth. This will be my last reply to you, unless you write something appropriate. May God be with you.

manoj, i agree to some extent with what you wrote, though not entirely, possibly for i know not as much as you for you are a more well read person then me, however i would like to thank mr annonymus for his words, for he did get me to read this and other of your articles. most are informative and some have a very similar thought behind as was mine for a long time. happy to find someone with a similar inclination.Mahadev is my weak spot and thats what got me here. but this guy is helpful for he got you to share a lot of things which you would not have.

another thing, i feel knowledge, no matter for what reason, should be shared. that is the essence of hinduism. a basic example for people of likes of annonymus that i always site is of the gurukul system of education that was followed in the days gone by. it may not be of much help in the way people precieve knowledge now, but was and is in my view still relevent.Anyhow the example i state is, the same guru no matter who, had all children in his gurukul, be it from a brahmin or a kshatriya background, they were tought the same scriptures. it was left to the thought that these students put into understanding these scriptures, and that was what decided what they got of it. all heard the guru and precieved differently and one who got a higher meaning out of the lesson may even ask a question, which for others is simple and has a simple answer. but the answer that others thought as obvious or at times irrelevent is what made him get more out of the same lesson which the entire class got what was obvious. That obvious is God and thats why the same story may lead one to become an ascetic and the other a worldly man, one a rishi and the other a warrior. ones thoughts were what made them decipher the essence of the vedas. no wonder there have been so many scriptures written over the centuries following the vedas, for each got his own understanding.I am not blessed with the gift of writing as you manoj, so my thoughts may seem disconnected or may be too nieve for you, but i believe hinduism is the simplest religion, but therein lies the hard part, most people do not get what is evdient. people want relegion and God to be complex. God is simple and easy to understand, we make him complex, as we have over the years made our relegion. Only thing complex about Hinduism is if you try to understand the relegion, for there are too many versions and interpretations, relegion is the means, if you are looking for understanding God, He is simple. We need to just try to understand him and not the relegion.I have a facitination for religions not just for hinduism though, that is the only reason i like hinduism more. But that does not mean that other religions are not good, i like the stories in all, even have found the corelation in them as well. jews and the early aryans had similar traditions, the 13 lost tribes of the jews were exiled to the east and we too have the khas tribes inhabiting the northern regions. (locals call the people of interiors in kullu as kashiya), the mention of Isa (Jesus) in nag samhita, and what not. these are fascinating facts that will tell us as to how all are related, but not to understand god.Continued....

Also people who say the hinduism is misintepreted by brahmins etc, ill say that is true to all relegions of the world. Studies prove bible has 12 of the entire lines tht can be said to be have spoken by jesus. Religion has been and is even today the tool for the rulers(governments in present context). Religion is what binds all the strongest, the rulers of the past and the politions of today understand that. they have moulded it when they can and will do so as well. why else did some neta of today make the higras into kinnars when they are not. One terrorist among a thousand dosent make the entire community as terrorists.My point is, religion is interesting to study, but that is not what gets us Moksha or redemption, it only binds us. What will redeem us is our understanding of God and ourself.Enough of my writing, overall a big thanx to you and pls, always share, and take all criticism and stupid quetions in stride, for as you also pointed, he did get you to think.Regards and godspeed,Shiv.

Sri Vishnu has always existed in this universe and all the universes that existed before and will continue to exist in new universes yet to come. He created Brahma & Shiva.According to purans, a cycle of one universe is called one day of Brahma. Brahma's lifecycle ends when the universe ends. A new Brahma is born in each new cycle of universe.

guys i see that you put a lot of trouble in making this page knowledgeable and understand. but the reason you or no one else has a perfect answer is cause its divine. you cant compare Gods no matter of what religion. Gods created you, you can't know their origin and most importantly have a belief than questions.....

there is no comparison beteen these GODS THEY R SUPREME AND ARE ASSINGNED FOR SPECIFIC WORK COZ DESTROYER IS AS MUCH AS IMPORTANT THEN CREATOR OR PROTECTOR COZ IF THERE IS NO DESTROYER THEN THERE IS NO NEED OF CREATOR OR PROTECTOR...

Jai Hanuman. Hi Friends,I think "HANUMAN JI" is most powerful god in universe.I pray to "HANUMAN JI" for long and happy life of every good person in world. Reading hanuman chalisa will give you Success.

!! Jai Shree Ram !! Really, this blog so good and i want to thanks to share all the document with us because every person who know about Hanuman jee then definitely he free all problem relevant to super natural and get all the things. If you want to free problem then worship with hanuman chalisa.

Thanks for giving us so much time !!Great tips man! Worth reading. To be honest at first sight I thought you’ll use the same old tips people used to write on their blogs, but here I learnt some new things in this key Point, something out of the box!

Allah reacts to man's supplication and He is the special case who has the ability to acknowledge or dismiss it. He is the Master of man's fate, nobody ever else can meddle with the destiny of others or even with his very own destiny! Islamic Fiqh

Wow, What an Outstanding post. I found this too much informatics. It is what I was seeking for. I would like to recommend you that please keep sharing such type of info.If possible, Thanks. maharishi jyotish